Led by Serendipity, Signatures is a platform that provides opportunities to nurture and support undiscovered talent. Working with emerging dancers and choreographers based locally, nationally and internationally, Signatures will showcase excerpts of work in development; thought-provoking, explorative and always innovative, this year presents work from artists based in the UK, Jamaica and Brazil.
Neg(ate) – Niquelle LaTouche Arts
If you had to describe yourself as what you “are not”, who are you? From London-based Niquelle LaTouche Arts, Neg(ate) is an autobiographical solo fusing poetry, music production and choreography. The piece explores the languages that we use to construct identity and celebrates the power of “writing yourself into existence” and taking control of the pen that authors your life story. A lot of language-based definitions come with a burden and the process of negation is the beginning of the journey of delving into the darkness and ways to begin unlearning and releasing your own connotations.
Introspection – Marlon Simms (UK Premiere) Marlon Simms, the Artistic Director of the National Dance Theatre of Jamaica, explores the thoughts and blood memories of a Black Caribbean man and through him the ancestral retentions that have survived generations of suffering and severance. As the world changes and “woke” culture resonates, much of his consciousness is an ‘inward stretch’ toward defining and affirming self for an “outward reach”. The work asks the question, “Who am I?” as a determining factor in affirming the Black Caribbean male identity and his role within the wider society.
Arquivo Negro (Black Archive) – Pé no Mundo Dance Company (UK Premiere) Pé no Mundo Dance Company present a dialogue between Brazilian Afro-indigenous manifestations and contemporary dance. Arquivo Negro is inspired by the real stories of Black personalities, who, even living in situations of extreme adversity, stood out and influenced Brazilian history, such as João Cândido, Maria Firmina dos Reis, Luiz Gama, Carolina Maria de Jesus, Abdias do Nascimento, Aleijadinho, among others. The show rescues and re-presents historical archives about an Afro-Brazilian culture, which are not truly told. We are not descendants of slaves, we are descendants of African human beings. Children of the Diaspora, brought into the world with the right to be authors and protagonists of our own history. Thus, we proceed with strides in narrow paths.
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